It's official - Motueka is New Zealand's Best Town

December 10th

Motueka has won the 2010 "Best Town" award in the Keep New Zealand Beautiful competition, receiving 100 more public votes than the other finalist Pukekohe.

The award brings a prize of $3000 to be spent by Keep Motueka Beautiful on improving signage around town, but it also provides great mana to the town which can now proudly proclaim its title. The win will surely encourage more people to visit and bring business to the region, and even move to live here. Tourism operators will be able to use the award in their marketing. And Motueka residents can renew their sense of pride about being part of a place that is nationally recognised.

Award winners were chosen by public online vote over four weeks (read background here) and announced at a ceremony at Parliament last night. To cap it off, the "Kiwis' Choice" category at the awards went to our region, won by Stoke.

Keep Motueka Beautiful chairwoman Eileen Wilkins told the Stuff website the win was "great news and a huge promotion for the town. The locals have always known Motueka is the best town in New Zealand and now everyone else knows it too," she said.

Bob Cooke, who has been part of Keep Motueka Beautiful for 15 years, said it made all the hard work worthwhile. "But Mot's a lovely spot anyway. It's got everything – the climate, the mountains, the rivers and the sea," he said. "I came here in 1951 and couldn't think of a nicer place to be."

Much of the praise for the win must go to the many residents who got behind the cause to vote themselves and to get their families and friends outside the region to vote. One local in particular, Jenny Richards, made the goal of winning a personal crusade, and spent the final couple of weeks of voting urging everyone she met to get involved and to harness all the external support possible. She was probably directly responsible for many hundreds of votes. This morning she was absolutely thrilled with the result.

[See TV3 News video of this news here]

Brief comments from readers:

Ka Pai well done MOTUEKA. - Janet Mossop.
Congratulations Motueka. You are a delight and thoroughly deserve your title as New Zealand's Best Town. Long may you reign. - Philippa Stevenson, Tamahere
Hoorayyyyyyyy :-) - Valerie Rae
Whoopee! - Malcolm Garrett
Good to hear - something we all knew, but good to have it acknowledged! Plus thanks are due to you for your efforts to get people to recognise that. - Beryce Vincenzi.
Marvelous news! One wonders whether this might help current moves to get a decent bypass and new bridge over the Motueka river! - Matt Beech.
Great news, that's why we came here to live. Can't we just employ someone with white gloves to direct traffic at peak times instead of bypasses and bridges? - Bret Ryan.
Well done Motueka - Best Town and very well deserved. Visited you in 2008 and enjoyed every minute (visiting family and celebrated 30th wedding anniversary whilst there). Keep up the good work. Shaun. Burghead, Scotland.
Well done Motueka. My wife and I spent 4 enjoyable months in your beautiful town 2 years ago. We cannot wait for our next visit! Aus and Sue Tyrer, Burghead, Morayshire, Scotland.

Comment by William Cleaver:
[Posted 15 December 2010]

Now we at the Grumpy Old Mens Club ask the question, Who knows we are the best town in NZ? Can anyone answer this? Who was last years winner? or the year before? Unless you live in a town that has been nominated you would have no idea that the compitition was even on. Yes we have had 30 seconds on TV3 News but that's about it.

I have asked my friends around the country and not one could tell me the answer. Some guessed Riwaka - wrong answer and they where fairly warm. Second guess colder - no it wasn't Nelson. Finally the right answer had to be prised out with numerous clues given.

So where to from here? Firstly why hasn't Our Town Motueka put a huge banner at the end of High St on the roundabout? Has anyone contacted the numerous i-Sites around the country and has Nelson Travel Tourism lauched a nation wide promotion? These are answers that need to be asked, otherwise our hard earned tourist driven dollar will be worth nothing and we will become unknown like last years winner. Now who was it?

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